Maya-Mulayam war to flare up after UPA victory

New Delhi, Jul 22 (UNI) The result of today's trust vote in which arch-rivals Bahujan Samaj Party(BSP) and the Samajwadi Party(SP), the two key political players in the most populated state of the country Uttar Pradesh, were pitted against each other would further heat up politics of the state.

The Samajwadi Party with 39 MPs in the Lok Sabha played a crucial role in the victory of the government in the trust vote.

The victory dashed all hopes of Ms Mayawati to become prime minister of the country, a possibility on which the Left, UNPA and other parties were working in the run-up to the trust vote.

SP chief and former state Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav clearly hinted after the voting that the alliance with the Congress that developed over the nuclear deal would result in an electoral alliance in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

''Our frienship will continue and grow further,'' he said.

On the other hand, Ms Mayawati gave vent to her anger and frustration over the ''conspiracy by the UPA, and also the NDA'' to keep her out of power.

Ms Mayawai, whose party has 17 MPs in the Lok Sabha and was emerging as the central figure in the no-BJP anti-deal camp, sees the UPA victory as the demolition of her dreams, for the time being.

Addressing a press conference after the trust vote, she said the chain of events triggered by the crisis over the nuclear deal had resulted into her emergence as the pivot of anti-Congress and anti-BJP forces.

Along with the regional parties, grouped as a third front, the Left had also come to realise that her party which was the largest in the most populated state of the country could not be overlooked, she said, adding that the new stature and role of the BSP would help her greatly in taking her party's movement ahead.

This rise of a Dalit woman and of a Dalit party was unacceptable to the Congress and the BJP, so they colluded to stop her, she said.

Just two days before the trust vote, the UNPA, a grouping of regional parties, and some more regional parties like the RLD and the JD(S) had endorsed the idea of Ms Mayawati being installed as prime minister of the country, floated a day earlier by the Left, in case the Manmohan Singh Government fell.

As the country's top executive post seemed very close to Ms Mayawati, the result of today's trust vote has come as a great shock to the BSP supremo, who had scored a landlside victory in Uttar Pradesh in the last Assembly elections, after which she was working hard to create a pan-India base.

Ms Mayawati's increasing popularity was, in fact, a great source of worry for both the Congress and the SP which is still force number two in the state. Though the Congress was in no way in competition with the BSP in the state, it feared erosion in its Dalit votes in other places in the country if Ms Mayawati gained in popularity. While the Congress needed the SP's support in the Lok Sabha, the latter wanted a friendly party at the Centre to dilute the heat it is facing in the state under Ms Mayawati's regime.

The BSP supremo sees the SP-Congress alliance as directed only against her.

UNI NAZ BDP NS2347